NEW POSSIBILITIES OF THE FERRITIC HOT ROLLING

APPLIED TO LOW CARBON STEELS

J.C. HERMAN, V. LEROY

CRM, Rue E. Solvay, 11, Liège (Belgium)
Presented at TechCo 29, Seoul (Korea), May 4-5, 1997

ABSTRACT

Warm or ferritic rolling appears as a very promising new practice for steel processing at the hot
strip mill. Advantages may be found in terms of processing such as energy saving, less damage
to work rolls. Ferritic rolling is also very attractive in terms of products development. In
particular, the production of a very thin hot strip as a substitute to cold rolled sheet is matter for
development.
The present paper deals with these different aspects in the case of the ferritic hot rolling applied
to both ELC and ULC-IF steels from continuously cast slabs.

INTRODUCTION

In order to achieve high mechanical properties, soft steels are usually hot rolled in austenite, with
a special attention to keep the finishing temperature above the austenite-ferrite phase
transformation temperature. The reason is that the intercritical hot rolling has been proved many
times to be very detrimental for the quality of the end product, due to the fact that partial
austenite transformation in the rear stands of the finishing mill results in serious problems in
terms of dimensional control and through thickness microstructural heterogeneities [1].

For modern Extra Low Carbon ELC (0.02-0.04 %C) or Ultra Low Carbon ULC (< 0.005 %C)
steels, including Interstitial Free IF steels, the minimum finishing temperature has to be kept
respectively above 880- 920°C. Due to this metallurgical requirement, the soft grades, hot rolled
in classical thickness (2-5 mm) are reheated at high temperature (respectively 1200 °C for ELC
and 1250°C for ULC steels) and a severe minimization of all thermal losses is carefully searched
at each stage of the hot deformation line. Nevertheless, for hot rolled thinner gauges (< 1.8 mm),
ensuring a fully austenitic rolling becomes a serious processing problem. Assuming that
intercritical rolling in the last stands is difficult to control, it has been proposed to lower on
purpose the entry rolling temperature and consequently to hot roll the strip with a nearly
completely transformed austenite microstructure, leading thus to the so called "Ferritic Hot
Rolling".

The "Ferritic Hot Rolling" practice has been first developed at CRM and industrially applied for
the production of thin hot strips[2] from conventional continuously cast slabs in order to improve
the production consistency ; later on, it has been extended to a large part of the product mix for
economical reasons, which are detailed hereafter. Moreover, ferritic rolling was first considered
as a possibility to produce at a reduced cost CQ grades from cheap ELC steels as well as new
steel qualities.

According to the processing conditions, the "Ferritic Rolling" is very well suited for the
processing of different thin gauge low cost products. They are namely :

- a fully recrystallised hot strip for direct application, corresponding to a non ageing, soft
and ductile grade,

1
- a strained thin hot strip for subsequent direct annealing, particularly well suited for a hot
dip galvanizing treatment just after pickling.

FERRITIC ROLLING AT THE HOT STRIP MILL

"Ferritic Rolling" is a low temperature rolling

REHEATING
schedule, as illustrated at Fig.1. 1200 1200 REHEATING
ROUGHING

Temperature (°C)
Temperature (°C)
The reheating temperature (1150-1050°C) is 1000 1000 ROUGHING
FINISHING
lowered as compared to the conventional
FINISHING
austenitic (1250 -1175°C) practice. The 800 800

roughing stage is kept in austenite possibly at a

600 600
reduced temperature and the finishing rolling is COILING
COILING
now ended in the ferrite region at 820-770°C. 400 TIME 400 TIME

CLASSICAL FERRITIC ROLLING

HOT ROLLING (γ )
For low carbon steels, moderate rolling loads in
the finishing mill make possible ferritic rolling Fig.1. Example of ferritic hot rolling schedule ;
on existing mills as illustrated at Fig.2. In the comparison with classical austenitic hot
temperature range between 850 and 750°C, the rolling
rolling loads and power are quite similar to that
observed in the austenitic region. For warm
ferritic rolling temperature (850-750°C) on 600 LABORATORY RESULTS
MEAN RESISTANCE TO HOT DEFORMATION (MPa)

[3]
actual hot strip mills , the mill productivity is
quite similar to the one in conventional 500 ELC
austenitic rolling. It has to be mentioned that, ULC-Ti
DYN.AGEING

for low C steel, the extension of the present

400
practice to lower temperature (below 600°C), is
made much more difficult due to some carbon
300
dynamic ageing, which is responsible for too
high rolling loads as shown in the same figure.
200

The economical advantages related to the

ferritic rolling practice at the hot strip mill are 100
numerous and quite large as shown in the
following non exhaustive list : 0
- energy saving derived from the use of a 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100
low reheating temperature, DEFORMATION TEMPERATURE (°C)
- less oxidation in the reheating furnace,
- possibility to combine ferritic rolling Fig.2 Mean hot deformation resistance of ELC and
ULC-Ti steels
with hot charging, and even with direct
rolling in mini-mills.
- less surface defects generally induced by the use of a low Mn content or high temperature
rolling stage at the edger mill.
- less work roll wear and banding due to the reduced rolling temperature what results in
less intermediate roll changes.
- better strip flatness control by rolling and cooling a transformed and homogeneous ferritic
microstructure,
- no more cooling water needed on the run-out table.
- no more metallurgical limitation for the hot rolling of very thin gauge strip.

2
As possible drawbacks of the ferritic rolling practice, it may be mentioned a possible limitation
at the roughing mill in terms of mill power or rolling loads due to the lowering of the rolling
temperature as well as a possible limitation in productivity in terms of an increased transfer time
between the roughing and the finishing mills. All these aspects are strongly related to the local
constrains of the mill and must be considered on a case by case basis.

It has also to be mentioned an increased susceptibility to surface damages during the slab
reheating in pushing furnace which are not eliminated owing the very limited oxidation observed
at reduced reheating temperature. The use of walking beam furnace allows to solve this particular
problem.

A non metallurgical limitation is related to the need to have enough steel tonnage to be warm hot
rolled what justifies to keep at low temperature for long time one or more reheating furnaces.

To encounter these possible limitations and to ensure more flexibility to the rolling line, CRM
is now developing a very compact bar cooling system to be installed just in front of the finishing
mill.

It must also be pointed out that the ferritic hot rolling procedure here applied to the case of
conventional continuous cast slabs is also basically very well suited for processing by direct
rolling slabs or bars coming out the thin slab caster.

In the case of direct rolling of thin slabs, a special attention must be paid to some microstructural
changes related to the higher cooling rates prevailing at and after steel solidification. In
particular, due to these changes, AlN has no time for precipitation before rolling and the major
part of N2 could precipitate as AlN during ferritic rolling as strain induced precipitation or during
coiling what results in some recrystallisation delay and ferrite grain growth control.

For the same reasons, some delay in the 100

thin slab - direct rolling
precipitation of MnS may be antici- 80
pated. This delay time may be so large Conv.slab - cold charging
Microns

that part of the sulphur content is kept 60

in solution for precipitation in the 40
coiler with a possible interaction on the
20
recrystallisation process of the ferrite as
reported by Hayashida[4]. Fig.3 com- 0
0 1000 2000 3000
pares the influence of the MnS product Mn x S
on the ferrite grain size of the hot rolled
strip processed respectively either by Fig.3. Ferritic grain size after hot rolling
thin slab casting and direct rolling
either by conventional continuous casting and cold charging.

From observations made on the hot bands, it has been shown that faster solidification at the
caster and direct rolling lead to fine distributed MnS precipitates of about 5 nm in diameter, in
some cases associated with AlN. This precipitation governed by the MnS product prevents grain
growth during recrystallisation as shown in the preceding figure.

From these results, it could be anticipitated that it is harder to produce soft hot rolled strips by
thin slab casting and direct rolling. In practice, Ca-treatment is required for thin slabs casting
which results in very low S content.

3
FERRITIC HOT STRIP FOR DIRECT APPLICATION

Based on ELC steels, the objective is to produce by ferritic rolling a low cost hot strip, very soft
and ductile, and consequently easier to be cold rolled as compared to the conventional austenitic
hot strip. In order to ensure a low cold deformation resistance, the parameters of the ferritic
rolling process are adjusted in order to produce a fully recrystallised hot strip in the as-coiled
condition.

For the ELC steels, recrystallisation is obtained, provided the finishing rolling temperature is kept
between 820 and 750°C and the coiling temperature above 600°C. In that conditions, industrial
experience has shown that the ferritic hot rolling productivity as well as the mill availability are
comparable to the ones observed in the case of classical austenitic hot rolling.

Recrystallisation in the coil is still made easier if the reheating temperature is kept around
1050°C for which just a part of the total nitrogen content is in solution after reheating of cold
charged slabs and thus susceptible to form AlN during coiling. The ferritic hot strip is softer,
mainly due to a coarser and very homogeneous ferrite grain size. The hot strip has also a very low
ageing sensitivity due to the lower solute N
content at the exit of the reheating furnace and to
a faster strain induced precipitation of AlN
during rolling in the ferritic phase and during
coiling. Classically, the yield strength of the
ferritic grade is closed to 180 MPa whereas it
reaches 230 MPa after conventional austenitic
rolling. To be mentioned also is that the C
content has to be kept below 0.04 wt%, in order
to avoid any intercritical rolling as shown from
experimental data reported in Fig.4.

This fully recrystallized hot strip can find direct Fig.4 Influence of the carbon content on the trans-
verse yield strength and ductility after α rol-
application for which a soft, non ageing grade is
ling (finishing : 800-750°C, coiling : 700-
searched, especially when hot rolled to a thin 650°C, thickness : 2-2.5 mm)
gauge. However, a low plastic anisotropy and a
strong negative planar anisotropy are measured,
which results in the occurrence of earing problems for cylindrical deep drawn parts. At the press
shop, the ferritic grade has however a clear advantage for what concerns the drawing loads,
which are reduced by about 20%. In stretching deformation mode, ferritic grade shows very good
performances. As a conclusion, ferritic hot rolling makes it possible to produce cost effectively
ELC hot strips that are very well suited for several shaping operations. As thin gauge hot strip,
the ferritic grade may be considered as a substitute to the cold rolled and annealed sheet.

FERRITIC HOT ROLLED STRIP FOR DIRECT ANNEALING

Ferritic rolling is also very well suited to produce thin gauge hot strip with a strained ferrite
microstructure for direct post-annealing in a continuous annealing line or in a hot dip galvanizing
line. To produce such a strained ferrite microstructure well suited for recrystallisation during
annealing, the coiling temperature has to be kept far below 600°C. The rolling temperature
should be also lowered to ensure a sufficient straining of the ferrite during rolling avoiding a too
large recovery. The lower are the rolling as well as the coiling temperatures, easier is the
recrystallisation process in the continuous annealing line. As shown in Fig.2, the deformation
resistance increases very effectively when rolling ELC steels at lower temperature and possible
mechanical damages to the finishing stands have to be seriously considered.

4
The higher deformation resistance is obviously the consequence of the dynamic strain ageing
sensitivity of such ELC steels with a high soluble carbon content still prevailing at the straining
temperature. Therefore, the ferritic hot rolling temperature of such ELC steels should be limited
down to 600°C. On the contrary, for ULC-IF steels, due to the very low content of remaining
soluble carbon, any dynamic ageing problem is avoided and a slow monotonic increase of the
deformation rolling loads with decreasing temperature is expected and observed in practice. The
ULC-IF steels appears thus very well suited for such a low temperature rolling practice to
produce strained microstructure.

The present low temperature rolling "routing" was applied for the hot processing of a final
galvanized strip 1.5-1.0 mm in thickness, without intermediate cold rolling, in order to take
advantage of the economical aspects already discussed here-above for what concerns the ferritic
hot rolling procedure.

The new routing may be applied on actual hot strip mill using finishing rolling temperature
around 750-700°C and a coiling temperature at least below 600°C. Depending on the final
application, ELC or ULC-IF Ti steels can be selected in such rolling conditions.

It is of common knowledge that the drawability of the end product generally expressed in terms
of Lankford coefficient r will be determined by the deformation texture developed during the
warm rolling which in turns influences the recrystallisation texture after continuous annealing
or hot dip galvanising. The deformation texture
developed during such a low temperature ferritic
hot rolling appears to be very sensitive to the
friction prevailing at the steel/work roll
interface.

In the unlubricated ferritic rolling described so

long, due to the friction developed at the strip
and the work rolls interface, a well defined shear
texture (110)[uvw] is generated in the ferrite
which accumulates near the free surface of the
steel strip as shown in Fig.5. Compressive
strains are only effective in the bulk of the sheet
so that the classical compressive textures Fig.5 Texture gradients in the through thickness -
<111>//DN + <100>//DN are generated at the unlubricated rolling
strip mid thickness.

To improve the r value of the end product, it is of prime importance to reduce the surface shear
texture (110) and to maximise the bulk compressive texture.

To do that, it is important to minimize the friction strain prevailing in the roll gap at the
steel/work roll interface by the use of an adequate rolling oil.

It is well known that, in a multistep rolling schedule, the mean pressure of deformation increases
from the first step to the last one, due to the temperature drop. If the mean deformation pressure
is now corrected for the temperature variation, it is important to note that the mean pressure
remains very sensitive to the so called geometry factor expressed by the ratio of the contact
length to the mean strip thickness, as shown in Fig.6 for both unlubricated and lubricated
multistep rolling schedule. These results clearly show that the lubricating effect of the oil is
observed in the last stands of the hot strip mill where friction reduction will improve the
deformation and recrystallisation textures of the end product.

5
 600
Temperature correction
Pm normalized at 800°C [MPa]
500 UNLUB : 70 MPa/100°C
LUB : 70 MPa/100°C

400

300 Multistep, unlubrified

Multistep, lubrified

200

100

0
6 5 4 3 2 1 0
Geometry factor (contact length/mean thickness)

Fig.6 Mean pressure during multi-step ferritic rolling :

ULC Ti

Proper lubrication of the work rolls in all stands of Fig.7 Relationship between r-value of the fi-
[5,6] nal steel products and the shear texture
the hot strip mill is found to be the best
intensity on the ferritic hot-rolled strip
approach for suppressing the shear texture and in ULC-Ti steel
consequently to improve the final quality. As
shown in Fig.7 by improving the lubrication
efficiency in the different stands of the finishing mill, the intensity of the shear texture has been
reduced to become negligible in the hot strip, and an increase in the drawing quality of the direct
annealed products is obviously correlated to the disappearance of the shear texture in the hot
strip. This lubricated ferritic rolling is proved to be very efficient in order to improve the drawing
quality of ULC-IF Ti steels, but remains less efficient in the case of ELC steels for which the
recrystallisation texture in the as-direct annealing condition is also controlled by the soluble
carbon content of the hot strip.

Representative mechanical properties of such steel sheets are presented at the table 1, after hot
rolling on a full lubricated hot strip mill and direct continuous annealing at 820°C or 720°C
respectively for ULC-IF or ELC steels.

Table 1 : Mechanical properties after direct continuous annealing of a strained thin hot strip
(1.6 mm) - Lubricated hot rolling.

Steel Coiling YS TS EL r
r
°C MPa MPa % mean
ELC 400 235 330 39 1.0 -0.07

ULC-Ti 500 135 290 45 1.4 0.60

These results show that, based on ULC-IF Ti steels, it is possible to produce a DQ steel grade as
a substitute to the cold rolled and annealed sheet. The same table shows also that the use of
lubrication at the hot strip mill in order to improve the drawability is less effective in the case
of ELC steels due to the detrimental effect of soluble carbon present in the microstructure.

6
FERRITIC HOT ROLLED STRIP FOR COLD ROLLING AND ANNEALING

The fully recrystallised ferritic hot strip has also some clear advantages when subsequent cold
rolling is considered. The objective is here again to take advantage, at the cold rolling mill, of
the softer hot strip as compared to the austenitic grade. In this respect, two possibilities may be
considered :

a) rolling mill managers can decide to increase the hot strip thickness with an improved
productivity at both the hot strip mill and the pickling line, while ensuring an equivalent
productivity at the cold mill. In that condition, the main benefit is found at the hot strip
mill and to some extend at the pickling line which very often is a bottle-neck in the
production line.
b) a second possibility consists to use a similar or thinner gage for the hot rolled strip taking
advantages of the reduced cold deformation resistance of the ferritic grade, in order to
increase the cold mill productivity in terms of rolling speed or to extend the cold format
range.
There is no universal rule to handle these economical aspects and to deduce an optimal option.
It will depend on the relative production costs of each line (hot strip and cold tandem mills,
pickling line). At the same time, bottle-neck problems must be also considered in the final
decision which will be influenced as well by the different formats to be produced.

For a first industrial evaluation of this new

"ferritic route", COCKERILL-SAMBRE
and ARBED-Dudelange have joint their
efforts to emphasise its economic poten-
tial. It was recognized that the reversible 4
High mill of Arbed-Dudelange was
particularly well suited for this exercise.
Depending on the different needed final
formats, the ferritic hot strip gauge was
selected in view either to reduce the
number of cold rolling passes either to
increase the rolling speed, both resulting
in a potential productivity increase. The
Fig.8 Process parameters for cold rolling (final set of industrial data reported at Figs.8
thick.:0.44mm) "austenitic" or "ferritic" hot strip
quality. Reduction of the number of rolling steps on
clearly shows the possibilities that offers
the reversible mill when using the ferritic quality the use of ferritic hot rolled strips. The
productivity data from June 1991 are very
impressive. For gauges ranging from 0.37
mm up to 1.5 mm, the total productivity benefit for the cold mill reached 17% on an average
basis[3,7].
After continuous annealing or galvanizing, this cold rolled ferritic sheet appears as a soft, ductile
and non ageing CQ grade (table 2), with a high work hardening coefficient n. Obviously enough,
the Lankford coefficient is somewhat low as it is for a commercial quality grade. The important
productivity increase for the reversible cold mill as well as the achievement of the requested
properties in the as- annealed condition for this grade have led to rapidly increase the production
of "ferritic hot rolled" strips.

7
Table 2 : Classical mechanical properties after continuous annealing, chemical composition
in 10-3%

C Mn Al N YS TS El n r
MPa MPa % mean

Austenitic 40 200 50 5.0 270 370 39 0.21 1.20

Ferritic 20 180 50 3.5 200 330 41 0.21 1.15

The same concept was applied to the cold tandem mills of Cockerill-Sambre[8] in 1994. Ferritic
hot rolling offers the same possibilities as what has been found on a reversible mill, it means
either an increase of the hot strip thickness, either an improved productivity at the cold mill. The
best routing in terms of cost saving which depends on the sheet format of the end product, has
been determined with the help of a metallurgical cold rolling model able to define the best initial
hot strip thickness.

Upgraded qualities can also be produced by the way of ferritic hot rolling and subsequent cold
rolling when optimizing the process conditions.

- for ELC steels, starting with a soft

recrystallised hot strip, an improved
drawability is found by adjusting the
cold rolling reduction according to the
results presented at Fig.9. For an applied
cold reduction in the range 70-75 %, the
r coefficient reaches a value equal to
1.25-1.35 associated to a positive planar
anisotropy. For higher cold reduction
(>80%), the mean r value increases up
to 1.4-1.6 (DQ), with now a negative
planar anisotropy.
It is interesting to note that the ferritic
hot rolling combined with cold rolling
allows to produce an isotropic grade in
quite realistic conditions.
Higher reductions at the cold tandem
mill are indeed feasible as regard to the
lower deformation resistance of the
incoming ferritic hot rolled strip. It must
be pointed out here again that for this
Fig.9 r-values in function of CR reduction ("ferritic"
type of routing, the effect of the ELC steel)
lubrication at the hot strip mill is
negligible for these ELC steels.
For the same purpose, the ferritic hot rolling and subsequent cold rolling practice may be
enlarged to the case of ULC-IF steel grades. The main problem here encountered results
from the higher recrystallisation temperature for this grade, which makes difficulty to
ensure complete recrystallisation of the strained microstructure at the coiler. Consequently,
the direct application of fully recrystallized "ferritically hot rolled" ULC-Ti grades is asking
for very high coiling temperature, at least higher than 700°C, and is thus restricted to the
thicker gauges.

8
- for ULC-IF grades with a strained microstructure in the as-ferritic hot rolled condition, an
improved drawability is associated to a lowering of the surface shear texture, when hot
rolling on lubricated work rolls. A clear relationship is observed between the hot rolled
texture and the final r value after cold rolling and annealing as illustrated at the preceding
Fig.7. The combined use of a proper lubricating system at the hot finishing mill and of
conventional cold rolling conditions is able to ensure the production of a DDQ grade.

An additional clear advantage of the softer ferritic

hot strip is to give the possibility to enlarge the
sheet formats to be produced at low cost (Fig.10),
enlarged width or/ and reduced thickness after cold
rolling. This point could be of prime importance
especially for packaging applications which are also
a challenge for steel industry faced to the inter-
material competition.
At Cockerill Sambre, the total production of CQ
grade according to the new ferritic route was
150000 tons in 1991 and is now 600000 tons/year.

Some efforts aimed at the same goal are nowadays

observed in different countries.
Fig.10 Increasing of critical sizes capability for
a 4 stands cold tandem mill

CONCLUSIONS

Taking into account that a major part of the flat product mix of an integrated steel mill is mainly
concerned with the delivery of commercial quality grade, it is of prime importance to reduce the
processing cost in terms of energy saving, steel composition, increase productivity,...
The present paper was just aimed at presenting a new way for processing steels at a reduced cost
by changing the deformation route from the reheating furnace to the coiler : in short, this new
approach is called the ferritic hot rolling of steels from which results many direct cost reductions
in terms of energy saving, work roll wear, productivity,...but also indirect cost saving related to
better performances for the intermediate or end products such as better flatness of the hot rolled
strip, the later being much more difficult to quantitatively assess.

It is also observed that the ferritic hot rolling approach is also very well suited for the direct
rolling of slab or bars coming out from the thin slab casters : it is just proposed to control the
MnS product what is already made by the needed Ca treatment of the liquid steel in order to
avoid a delayed fine precipitation due to the increased cooling rate after solidification.

Developed in a first stage to process CQ grade, research and development efforts are now in
progress to improve the properties of the end product reaching again the DQ and DDQ grades.
The ferritic hot rolling offers also an unique opportunity to process, without any metallurgical
constrain related to the temperature drop in the finishing mill, an ultra thin hot rolled strip as a
substitute to the classical cold rolled and annealed sheet for which an increased demand is
observed on the market.
It is also clear that the benefit to be deduced from this new concept has to be considered in a
global approach of the problem, advantage being some time related to the hot processing line,
some time the benefit being more concerned with the cold processing stage.

9
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was performed with a financial support of ECSC(European Coal and Steel
Commission) and of Belgian Authorities. The authors are pleased to thank the collaboration of
their colleagues at COCKERILL-SAMBRE (Carlam and Chertal works ) and ARBED
(Laminoirs de Dudelange works).

REFERENCES

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Revue de Métallurgie-CIT (1991), p.433-442.
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Revue de Métallurgie-CIT (1992) p.447-453
4. T. HAYASHIDA, "Effect of chemical compositions and hot rolling conditions on size and
distribution density of MnS in hot-rolled steels". ISS 33rd Mechanical working and steel
Processing, St Louis, Mo, Oct.1991.
5. P. MESSIEN and al. "Continuous annealing of ULC-Ti ferritic hot-rolled strips".
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Warrendale, Pa (1992), p.287-304.
6. P. MESSIEN and J.C. HERMAN. "r-value improvement of steel product using hot rolling
lubrication". International Symposium on Low Carbon Steel for the 90's, ed. R. Asgahami
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rolled thin strip steel : a new low cost approach for steel sheet production". Steel World,
February 1992, p. 48-54.
8. Ph. HARLET and al. New soft steel grades produced by ferritic rolling at Cockerill Sambre.
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10